Thursday, March 31, 2011

Wanda wins with her 8:17 p.m. Tuesday guess "Charles Frederick Holder at the Valley Hunt Club?" (Wanda, you didn't link to any contact info, so please e-mail me at aerdman@cityofpasadena.net and I'll tell you about your fabulous prize.)

In the 1910 photo above, Charles Frederick Holder sits in the library of his Pasadena home.

The rectangular photo above the mantel is of Catalina Island where he explored and fished. The man in the framed photo above the mantel is Charles Darwin, one of his heroes.

Born to a wealthy Quaker family in Massachusetts, Holder was an explorer, college professor, philanthropist, conservationist, sportsman, master swordsman and author.

It's not surprising that he had a love of the great outdoors and all things nature-related: His father, Dr. Joseph Holder, was the curator of invertebrate zoology at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. As a child, Charles hunted and fished with his father in locations along the eastern seaboard and spent hours on end exploring every corner of the museum; in 1871 he became his father's assistant at the museum and began writing about natural history.

When he was in his 30s, Charles was diagnosed with a lung condition. He followed the advice of his doctors and moved west, settling in Pasadena in 1885 with his wife, Sarah Ufford Holder.

They were active in Pasadena's civic and cultural affairs: He served on the boards of trustees of the public library and the public school system and was the first president of the Tournament of Roses, and she was on the board of directors of the Pasadena Children's Training Society, a home and school for what now would be considered foster children (it morphed into Hathaway-Sycamores).

Here's a charming illustration of the public library from Charles F. Holder's book All About Pasadena and Its Vicinity (1889, Lee and Shepard publishers):

Excerpt from the book:

The public buildings of Pasadena speak well for its future. On Fair Oaks Avenue is the Young Men's Christian Association, a large and expensive building in course of erection. On Colorado Street near the extensive Carr estate the Union Club-House is rising, and returning to Raymond Avenue we find the Public Library building, the finest of the kind west of Denver. Here is a fine collection of books, and a reading-room containing all the papers and periodicals of the day. The reading-room is free to all visitors, and books are obtainable by paying a small monthly fee.

In the library are the rooms and museum of the Pasadena Academy of Sciences -- which eventually will contain some of the finest collections in Southern California, among which may be mentioned the H.N. Rust collection of antiquities, ranging from the mount builders of the West to the California aborigines; the Carr collection of fossils, representing the great and varied field covered by New York State; the zoölogical collections of Delos Arnold and C.F. Holder, while many other citizens of Pasadena propose to contribute their private collections, which will make the museum one of the most valuable in the State.

Holder co-founded, along with Dr. Francis Rowland, the Valley Hunt Club* in 1888.

Here's a photo of Holder circa 1889 with Valley Hunt Club foxhounds. The photo is in his book Life in the Open (1906, G.P. Putnam's Sons publishers):

In 1890, members of the Valley Hunt Club invited their friends on the east coast to an annual mid-winter holiday in Pasadena where they could watch chariot races, jousting, foot races, polo and tug-of-war under the warm California sun.

Here's a chariot race (that's Throop University on the right, which would become Caltech):

Holder had an idea for expanding the event:

"In New York, people are buried in snow," he announced at a Valley Hunt Club meeting. "Here our flowers are blooming and our oranges are about to bear. Let's hold a festival to tell the world about our paradise."

And the Tournament of Roses was born.

He and Rowland were the grand marshals of the 1910 Tournament of Roses.

Holder founded the Tuna Club of Avalon on Catalina Island, where he fished and explored for many years.

Here he is in a photo captioned "Mr. Holder fishing for sheepshead, Catalina Islands" from his book Big Game at Sea (1908, Hodder and Stoughton publishers):

He lost his life in 1915 as a result of a terrible automobile accident. He was 66 years old.

Garrett Newkirk wrote this in an article the day after Holder’s death:

Dr. Holder was a man of the finest fiber, lover of all that is good, a hater of evil and despiser of shams. He will ever remain in the memory of those who knew him best as a type of the truest gentleman, a loving husband, a faithful friend, a patriotic citizen.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Saturday, March 26, at 10 a.m. – Come to a community meeting to learn more about the next two phases of the Robinson Park Master Plan and provide your comments and suggestions.

Saturday, March 26, from 3 to 5:30 p.m. – Hillary Jordan, author of Pasadena’s 2011 One City, One Story novel, will join Pasadena Public Libraries Director Jan Sanders in the ballroom at the Pasadena Convention Center, 300 E. Green St., in a discussion about Jordan’s experiences envisioning and writing Mudbound. A question-and-answer session with the community will follow. Bring your copy of the book for her to sign!

Tuesday, March 29, at 7 p.m. – Join musicologist Carl Bergquist-DeVoe at Hastings Branch Library as he provides a history of film music, shows scenes from films throughout the decades, performs musical numbers and shares some great stories about film scores.

Wednesday, March 30, at 1 p.m. – This week’s film in the Donald R. Wright Auditorium at Pasadena Central Library is “Great Debaters” (2007, PG-13) starring Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and Kimberly Elise in the fact-based story of a professor at Wiley College in Texas who inspired students to form the school’s first debate team that went on to challenge Harvard for the national championship.

Wednesday, March 30, at 3:30 p.m. – Local mezzo-soprano Gigi Johnson will sing jazz numbers from the 1940s, accompanied by pianist Bob Balbert, and shares the stories behind the songs at Hill Avenue Branch Library. This is a One City, One Story event that ties in to Mudbound themes.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Cafe Pasadena wins with his 6:42 p.m. Tuesday guess "Early 1900's foto of a grocery/bakery on 679 S.Fair Oaks here in Pasa. I pass this block regularly in search of, I don't know what. Was owned by Carrie McAdoo, widow of Booker. This is basically across from Huntington Hosp."

In the 1909 photo above, McAdoo Grocery is open for business on West Colorado Street.

Inside the store:

Booker McAdoo, his wife Carrie Woods McAdoo and their three children came to Pasadena from Hot Springs, Ark., by way of Riverside, in 1899. Booker had worked all his life as an attendant in a bath house and massage parlor. After he contracted tuberculosis, his doctors recommended a move to California.

In Riverside he worked hard as a laborer in the orange groves, which made his medical condition worse. He and Carrie decided to move to Pasadena and open a business.

Early images of Booker...

...and Carrie:

When the McAdoos first came to Pasadena, they owned a restaurant that Carrie managed on her own due to Booker's failing health.

Later they opened a grocery store at 53 S. Fair Oaks Ave. It was the first grocery owned by African Americans in Pasadena.

After Booker passed away, Carrie closed the store and opened a larger one at 670 S. Fair Oaks Ave. She was 37 years old at the time.

Excerpt from the 1977 oral history of their son, Benjamin Franklin McAdoo:

She was pretty young, so she wanted to get permanently located. We bought property and she moved in two buildings and got things started and we began there with our grocery store. It was very prominent because people all around in the neighborhood would come there to buy.

Here's Ben with Stella, one of his two sisters:

Carrie and her family operated the McAdoo Grocery at 670 S. Fair Oaks Ave. until 1907 when the San Gabriel Valley Investment Company, an African American financial concern, bought the business.

Ben:

Then a black corporation was formed here in town called the San Gabriel Valley Investment Company and they bought the store out. They started to operate the store. They did a wonderful business, but there was some dishonest employees and that ruined the business. That was their end.

Carrie bought back the business in 1909, closed it right away and opened a larger store on West Colorado Street. The McAdoo family operated the store in that location until 1911.

Ben:

Then we sold out to Caucasian people. I don't know how long they ran it or where they moved to. I've forgotten about that.

Ben had a long and fascinating history of his own, which perhaps I'll tell one day.

For now, I leave you with this wonderful photo of Carrie in her golden years, surrounded by her grandchildren:

I would love to say that's Carrie in the top two photos, but the woman isn't identified. I say it's her. What say you?

Nowadays the City of Pasadena offers free workshops monthly to owners and managers of small businesses. The next one is Tuesday, April 12, with the theme "Great Customer Service: Acquiring and Expanding Your Customer Base." See more information here.

It's always exciting when someone new comes on board and sad when someone leaves. Vince is a great addition to our team. I'll be keeping in touch with Patsy, who's moving on to teach university courses in social work. Those students are fortunate.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Scullery Captain wins with his 1:07 p.m. Tuesday guess "During the early days of the Pasadena Art Center College of Design, a professor explains contours and aerodynamics to a group of vehicle design students."

Art Center College of Design is one of the institutions that will open their doors for free on Friday, May 20, for ArtNight Pasadena. If you've never been to the Williamson Gallery at Art Center, get there on ArtNight!